Judges 6:28

6:28 When the men of the city got up the next morning, they saw ¹  the Baal altar pulled down, the nearby Asherah pole cut down, and the second bull sacrificed on the newly built altar.

Judges 6:31

6:31 But Joash said to all those who confronted him, ²  “Must you fight Baal’s battles? ³  Must you rescue him? Whoever takes up his cause ⁴  will die by morning! ⁵  If he really is a god, let him fight his own battles! ⁶  After all, it was his altar that was pulled down.” ⁷ 

Judges 9:33

9:33 In the morning at sunrise quickly attack the city. When he and his men come out to fight you, do what you can to him.” ⁸ 

Judges 16:2

16:2 The Gazites were told, ⁹  “Samson has come here!” So they surrounded the town ¹⁰  and hid all night at the city gate, waiting for him to leave. ¹¹  They relaxed ¹²  all night, thinking, ¹³  “He will not leave ¹⁴  until morning comes; ¹⁵  then we will kill him!”

Judges 19:25

19:25 The men refused to listen to him, so the Levite ¹⁶  grabbed his concubine and made her go outside. ¹⁷  They raped ¹⁸  her and abused her all night long until morning. They let her go at dawn.

[6:28]  ¹ tn Heb “look!” The narrator uses this word to invite his audience/readers to view the scene through the eyes of the men.

[6:31]  ² tn Heb “to all who stood against him.”

[6:31]  ³ tn Heb “Do you fight for Baal?”

[6:31]  ⁴ tn Heb “fights for him.”

[6:31]  ⁵ sn Whoever takes up his cause will die by morning. This may be a warning to the crowd that Joash intends to defend his son and to kill anyone who tries to execute Gideon. Then again, it may be a sarcastic statement about Baal’s apparent inability to defend his own honor. Anyone who takes up Baal’s cause may end up dead, perhaps by the same hand that pulled down the pagan god’s altar.

[6:31]  ⁶ tn Heb “fight for himself.”

[6:31]  ⁷ tn Heb “for he pulled down his altar.” The subject of the verb, if not Gideon, is indefinite (in which case a passive translation is permissible).

[9:33]  ³ tn Heb “Look! He and the people who are with him will come out to you, and you will do to him what your hand finds [to do].”

[16:2]  ⁴ tc Heb “To the Gazites, saying.” A verb is missing from the MT; some ancient Greek witnesses add “it was reported.”

[16:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “And they surrounded.” The rest of the verse suggests that “the town” is the object, not “the house.” Though the Gazites knew Samson was in the town, apparently they did not know exactly where he had gone. Otherwise, they would could have just gone into or surrounded the house and would not have needed to post guards at the city gate.

[16:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “and they lay in wait for him all night in the city gate.”

[16:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “were silent.”

[16:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “saying.”

[16:2]  ⁹ tn The words “He will not leave” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[16:2]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “until the light of the morning.”

[19:25]  ⁵ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Levite) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[19:25]  ⁶ tn Heb “and he caused [her] to go outside to them.”

[19:25]  ⁷ tn Heb “knew,” in the sexual sense.